I believe i allways take direction by that pointy side of blue dots ...
You surely notice they are not round, but nore like seeds ... the pointy side is where that character is looking. I dunno, to me its perfectly working. O_o
Yeah with our characters running like chickens and unable to turn without moving it's really easy to understand.
I think it even takes more time to understand where to go on the minimap than on the normal map...